New camper home, pin box concerns,

laknox wrote:

fjrjohnny wrote:
The seller was kind enough to deliver the '09 KZ Sportsmen Toyhauler. He did so by using his short box pickup with a slider hitch that was set-up for the trailer in question.

After backing my '09 F350 with a long box under the camper and stopping when the king pin was just ahead of the axle, there is only around 7" of clearance between the truck and camper. Because the truck is yet to be equipped with a hitch, it can't hooked-up to see how the clearance would actually work. But by appearances alone, the distance looks to be inadequate.

Arrangements have been made to have a standard Pullrite fifth wheel hitch installed, and a used Dexter/Leland 7920 pin box has been acquired. I'm told that the this pin box is 8" longer that the one on the camper right now. That is a Leland AF7910, which is approximately 16" from the camper end of the box to the center of the pin.

Am hoping that the additional 8" of clearance will be enough, but an somewhat worried that the longer pin box may strike the top of the bedrail, which is at stock height. My truck is equipped with a truck camper suspension and Firestone Air Bags, and it sits up a bit in the rear.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue, or can anyone shed some advise?

Thanks in advance, John

7" is, for most purposes, adequate clearance. The only time you might need/want more is if you boondock a lot and get into rougher country. Personally, I don't think you need a longer pin box whatsoever. With air bags, you can control the level of the truck, but it's not real likely to make much difference in the bed clearance. IF you decide you need more clearance, you may be able to adjust the suspension height by moving the spring shackles to a lower hole (if available) or (again, if available) put the springs on top of the axles. Beyond that, you'd need to go to more extreme measures, the most common being to add a sub-frame between the frame and the spring hangars to raise the entire FW.

Lyle

fjrjohnny wrote:
The seller was kind enough to deliver the '09 KZ Sportsmen Toyhauler. He did so by using his short box pickup with a slider hitch that was set-up for the trailer in question.

After backing my '09 F350 with a long box under the camper and stopping when the king pin was just ahead of the axle, there is only around 7" of clearance between the truck and camper. Because the truck is yet to be equipped with a hitch, it can't hooked-up to see how the clearance would actually work. But by appearances alone, the distance looks to be inadequate.

Arrangements have been made to have a standard Pullrite fifth wheel hitch installed, and a used Dexter/Leland 7920 pin box has been acquired. I'm told that the this pin box is 8" longer that the one on the camper right now. That is a Leland AF7910, which is approximately 16" from the camper end of the box to the center of the pin.

Am hoping that the additional 8" of clearance will be enough, but an somewhat worried that the longer pin box may strike the top of the bedrail, which is at stock height. My truck is equipped with a truck camper suspension and Firestone Air Bags, and it sits up a bit in the rear.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue, or can anyone shed some advise?

Thanks in advance, John